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Left: Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee; Right: attorney Ashleigh Merchant. (Law&Crime Network)
Fireworks erupted on Thursday morning in a Georgia courtroom well before any testimony was held in a long-anticipated hearing over the precise contours of the relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
During a brief “housekeeping session,” an attorney for the state pleaded with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to put a damper on the hearing before it began and, instead, sanction defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Michael Roman, a staff member for Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Citing “an investigation” conducted by the district attorney’s office since an explosive Monday hearing, the state argued that Merchant lied under oath and made an “outrageous misrepresentation” of what her “star witness” could testify to if he took the stand.
Earlier this week, the state unsuccessfully tried to quash a subpoena issued against Peach State attorney Terrence Bradley.
The defense, in an earlier filing, argued Bradley “will refute” the claim that Willis and Wade “did not have a personal, romantic relationship before Willis appointed Wade as a special prosecutor.”
Bradley is one of Wade’s former business partners and attorneys, with whom the special prosecutor has had a business relationship since 2015. The state argued there has been no waiver of attorney-client privilege — which would be claimed if he were to testify.
On Monday, the state said Bradley, in fact, had no such information about the relationship — and reiterated that anything Bradley might testify to about the allegations that Willis and Wade began their relationship would be covered by the attorney-client privilege.
The state also argued Merchant made a “patently false” claim in court that Bradley’s testimony could impeach several other witnesses. Those witnesses are several employees of the district attorney’s office who the defense claims can also testify about the relationship.
In light of those claims, the state argued, the only hearing that should go forward is a sanctions hearing for Merchant’s lack of candor.
The state’s attorney went on to characterize the defense attorney’s claims as “flagrant falsehoods that have been spread throughout the world” and said it was all about “spectacle” and “harassment” of the district attorney’s office.
The judge, however, was not convinced by the state’s argument. The hearing moved forward with Bradley as the first witness.
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